BACKGROUND: Gastroesophageal varices and associated bleeding are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cirrhotic patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential role of the biomarkers HMGB1 (High Mobility Group Box 1) and IL-6 (Interleukin-6) as predictors of infection, acute kidney injury and mortality in these patients. METHODS: It is a prospective, observational study that included 32 cirrhotic patients with variceal bleeding. RESULTS: The subjects’mean age was 52±5 years and 20 (62.5%) were male. The average MELD was 17.53±5 and the average MELD-Na was 20.63±6.06. Thirty patients (93.3%) patients were Child-Pugh class B or C. Infection was present in 9 subjects (28.1%), acute kidney injury was present in 6 (18.1%) and 4 (12.5%) patients died. The median serum levels of HMGB1 were 1487 pg/mL (0.1 to 8593.1) and the median serum level of IL-6 was 62.1 pg/mL (0.1 to 1102.4). The serum levels of HMGB1 and IL-6 were significantly higher in patients who developed infection, acute kidney injury and death (P<0.05). The Spearman’s correlations for HMGB1 and IL-6 were 0.794 and 0.374 for infection, 0.53 and 0.374 for acute kidney injury and 0.467 and 0.404 for death, respectively. CONCLUSION: Serum levels of HMGB1 and IL-6 were higher in patients with the three studied outcomes. HMGB1 serum levels showed a high correlation with infection and a moderate correlation with acute kidney injury and death, while IL-6 showed a moderate correlation with infection and death and a low correlation with acute kidney injury.

Variceal bleeding is a serious complication in cirrhotic patients and is related to increased expression of inflammatory mediators that accentuate circulatory dysfunction. The study aims to evaluate the performance of high mobility protein group 1 (HMG1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) as predictors of acute kidney injury (AKI), infection and death in these patients. Fifty patients who were diagnosed with advanced chronic liver disease with variceal bleeding were included. The mean age was 52.8 ± 10.8 years, and 33 (66%) were male. Twenty-one (42%) patients were classified as Child-Pugh C, 21 (42%) Child-Pugh B and 8 (16%) Child-Pugh A. The mean HMG1 serum level was 2872.36 pg/mL ± 2491.94, and the median IL-6 serum level was 47.26 pg/mL (0-1102.4). In AKI, the serum level of HMG1 that performed best on the ROC curve was 3317.9 pg/mL. The IL-6 serum level was not associated with AKI. HMG1 and IL-6 cut-off values that better predicted infection were 3317.9 pg/mL and 72.9 pg/mL, and for mortality, the values were 2668 pg/mL and 84.5 pg/mL, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the variables that were associated with AKI and infection outcomes were model for end-stage liver disease and HMG1. Infections were related to the risk of death. Clinical and laboratory variables related to the outcomes were identified. Serum levels of HMG1 were associated with AKI and infection and had